Musings of Guitar Strings
by Never Will I Grow Up
Summary: Nicky's finally gets some entertainment. Some entertainment that's caught the eye of a certain Son of Ipswich. It seems the residential bad boy of Ipswich has a hero complex, but does this shy yet witty British musician need saving?
1. Empty Bar in the Middle of Nowhere

Disclaimer: So this is valid for the entire story. I do not, nor will I ever, own the Covenant. I just do this for my own entertainment, and hopefully those who read it. I am making no money off of it, so there you have it. No one can sue me. I also don't own any of the songs in this story. I'm just really bad at writing my own songs.

A young girl stood hesitantly outside of an empty bar in the middle of no where. It was pretty much the last place she could think of to go, but this is what the lawyers wanted. Behind her was a large amount of luggage, and in her hand was a guitar case. This mysterious girl's name is Lucille "Lucy" Porter, who was torn away from her home at the age of 17.

She took in a deep breath, and sighed, "Here goes nothing." and knocked on the door of the popular bar Nicky's. After waiting a few moments, the door was opened by a large man, muscled, but had a bit of a gut. His hair was thinning out a bit, but you could tell that he was extremely handsome when he was younger. In his hand was a glass he was drying, and towel was draped over his shoulder.

"Hello, Uncle Nicky," Lucy said meekly in her noticeable British accent. "Thanks for takin' me in."

"No problem Lucy, Nicole was my twin sister, it's my honor." Nicky said gruffly, leading her upstairs.

"Still, I feel guilty, I mean, mooching off you 'till I graduate, it's really nice of you." Lucy rambled in her soft voice, not really aware that he was only half listening.

"Well, like I said, not problem." Nicky replied awkwardly. Then, Lucy turned towards him, "Well, just tell me how I can repay you. I'd gladly do it. Good night Uncle Nicky."

He turned towards the small girl after setting down her luggage. "Just Nicky, Lucy, I don't want people to badger you for free drinks."

"Thanks Nicky." With that, Lucy turned around, looking at her room. There were two windows on the far wall, a full sized bed was pushed between them, a desk was to her right, and a bathroom and closet to her left. Other than that, it was bare, she took a deep breath _'I've got a lot of work to do.' _Lucy got to work unpacking and whatnot, then exhausted, she fell asleep without even changing.

The next morning Lucy quickly changed into her old ripped jeans, and a plain black t-shirt, and pulled her hair into a ponytail. She ran downstairs to the bar, to see Nicky eating cereal at one of the tables that later that night would be filled with customers.

"Good morning Nicky. I had an idea on how I can repay you." Lucy said, pouring herself orange juice.

"Really," Nicky grunted, "how's that?"

"I could be the entertainment for your restaurant." Lucy replied, picking up the newspaper. "It would bring larger crowd I bet."

Nicky nodded, "Yeah, sounds good, have a song ready for tonight, think of it as a trial run."

Lucy squealed and ran over to hug the man, "Thanks!"

A/N: Pictures of Lucy on my profile.


	2. Black Horse and a Cherry Tree

Reid Garwin was leaning on the door of a large black Hummer waiting for his wingman, his best friend, Tyler Simms. He sighed, running his hand through his hair, getting extremely impatient. He quickly pulled his phone out and started texting.

**Dude, hurry up, stop being such a grade grubber and let's go to Nicky's!**

Feeling like he had gotten his point across, he put his phone away, and shoved his fists into his pocket. Minutes later, Tyler was seen walking quickly towards the car.

"It's about time, man," Reid exclaimed, "I was about to think we were going to miss all the hot girls!"

'Shut up dude," Tyler said, "You know I had to finish that essay."

"Whatever, let's just go." Reid said sliding into the car.

When they walked into the bar, they immediately found Caleb, Pogue and their girlfriends, and joined them at a table.

"What's up, fellas?" Reid asked, stealing some of Caleb's fries.

Kate, ever the gossip queen replied, "I heard that Nicky's getting some live entertainment for this place!"

"No more jukebox?" Sarah pouted, and they all laughed.

Suddenly a soft accent floated through the bar.

"Hello, I'm Lucy Porter, and I'm your entertainment for tonight." Reid turned to look at the speaker, who was sitting on a stool at a make-shift stage. She wasn't anything special, he had seen hotter at his school, but there was an aura about her, something pure and innocent, in her pale face, and how the light hit her wavy brown hair. Yet, no matter how innocent she looked, her lips pouted out in an alluring way.

He was broken out of his entranced state when she started singing, and strumming her acoustic guitar.

"_Well my heart knows me better than I know myself,_

_so I'm gonna let it do all the talking."_

Reid stared at her fingers, moving quickly across the frets, thinking how soft her hands might be. He barely noticed Sarah pulling Caleb onto the dance floor, eager to dance to the upbeat song.

"_I came across a place in the middle of nowhere,_

_with a big black horse and a cherry tree."_

Reid tried to shake himself out of it, but became hooked again as she licked her lips, readying herself for the next verse.

"_I felt a little fear upon my back,_

_I said don't look back,_

_just keep on walking."_

Tyler looked towards his best friend, he had never seen him look so dazed, and to think, a girl had caused this. He knew Reid was going to try something with this girl, but for some reason, he had a feeling she wasn't like the other girls he liked. Let's face it, she wasn't busty, or blond, just a skinny little nobody with a guitar in her hands.

"_But the big black horse said 'Look this way',_

_and said, 'Hey little lady, will you marry me."_

Reid hadn't even talked to the girl, and yet she fascinated him. For some reason he wanted to learn more. He wondered what these poetic, and yet enigmatic lyrics were about. What the metaphors were. Never before had he done that. "Who is this girl?" He muttered with curiosity.

"_And I said no, no,_

_no, no, no, no,_

_I said no, no,_

_you're not the one for me."_

" _I said no, no,_

_no, no, no, no,_

_I said no, no,_

_you're not the one for me."_

Reid wondered why no one was as fascinated as he was. Why everyone else went along with their business, eating and dancing, playing pool or fooseball? Why was he the only one enraptured with this tiny brunette.

"_And my heart hit a problem in the early hours,_

_so I stopped it dead for a beat or two."_

Reid couldn't help but admit that the way the dim lights of Nicky's hit her made her skin glow, with a sort of ethereal beauty.

"_But I cut some cord, and I shouldn't have done that,_

_and it won't forgive me after all these years."_

He watched her shake her head, emphasizing the disagreement in the lyrics, her dark waves swinging in different directions, only making the shine in it more noticeable.

"_So I sent it to a place in the middle of nowhere,_

_with a big black horse and a cherry tree."_

It was strange, this far into the song, and he had only heard what her voice sounded like. It was strong, yet a bit scratchy, and the raw passion in her voice made it only more beautiful.

"_But it wont come back, cause it's oh so happy,_

_and now I've got a hole for the world to see."_

Reid suddenly caught this girls eye, and she stared at him, almost contemplatively, and she grinned, and he started feeling this sickness in his stomach. She was smiling at him, and yet, it was bittersweet, because he could still see the sadness in her eyes.

"_And it said no, no,_

_no, no, no, no,_

_said no, no,_

_you're not the one for me."_

" _It said no, no,_

_no, no, no, no,_

_it said no, no,_

_you're not the one for me."_

Reid wondered what made her feel that way. Why was she so desolate, yet felt the need to put on a charade for all the people around her? He knew his reasons. But what where hers?

"_And it said no, no,_

_no, no, no, no,_

_said no, no,_

_you're not the one for me."_

" _It said no, no,_

_no, no, no, no,_

_it said no, no,_

_you're not the one for me."_

He felt the sudden urge to get to know this girl, protect her from whatever was making her so sad. As soon as the urge came, he suppressed it. He was Reid Garwin, for God's sake, he didn't have girlfriends, just the pleasures without the responsibilities.

"_Big black horse, and a cherry tree,_

_I can't quite get there, cause my heart's forsaken me._

_Big black horse, and a cherry tree,_

_I can't quite get there, cause my heart's forsaken me."_

"Thank you." She spoke out, as she put her guitar down. She grinned shyly, as the crowd applauded her, then walked off stage. Reid saw her head towards the bar, and got up, not really knowing what he was doing.

"Dude, where are you going?" He could vaguely hear Tyler call out.

"See you later, man." Reid replied distractedly, and smirked as he thought he heard Tyler mutter, "He didn't even answer the question."

Reid made his way through the crowd, and saw the girl sitting on a bar stool, sipping a soft drink. He walked up, and leaned on the counter next to her.

"You know, I always had a thing for girls who could play the guitar." He said, trying to start a conversation.

"Really?" She replied uninterestedly.

"Yeah, it really turns me on." He smirked. He noticed then that she wasn't wearing a lot of make-up but it was still dramatic. Just black eye-liner and mascara, and a ruby red lipstick.

"Well, where's the button to turn you off, because I'm not really looking for anything like that." She said, stirring her drink absentmindedly with her straw.

"You British?" He asked, distracted by her accent.

"Yeah, from London." She said turning towards him.

"So what would a Brit like you, be doing down in a small town like Ipswich?"

"I had to move in with my Uncle, because of circumstances I don't really feel like talking about right now."

He finally got a good look at what she was wearing, a concert t-shirt from the Who, under an open jean vest, several large and colorful plastic beads, in purple, yellow, and green, black, washed-out jeans that were tucked into combat boots.

"Do you go to school around here?" He asked.

"Yeah, just startin' Monday, at some fancy finishing school. A load of bull, if you ask me. I don't want to be a lawyer, or a doctor like everyone else at that school, I just want to be a musician." She confessed.

"Ah, Spenser's," he nodded, knowing it was the only prep school in Ipswich. "Yeah, I go there, a lot of those kind of people, you're good enough to make it big, though, I can see you have a huge passion for it."

She laughed, and he, not knowing what he did to cause it, just thought he wanted to make her laugh more. "Yeah, I basically live and breath music, so you the doctor type, or the lawyer type?" She asked.

"Neither, I'm the business type, I want to open my own business. Not sure what though..." She smiled at him and held out her hand.

"I'm Lucy, by the way, Lucy Porter."

Reid grinned, and took her hand, taking note of how soft it was, "Garwin, Reid Garwin, and why don't you come and meet some of my friends? You know, before you have to get back up there."

Lucy considered, "Yeah, sure, why not?" She got up off of the stool, and he noticed that the top of her head just about reached his chest, a bit too short to push her way through a crowd. So he put his hand on the small of her back, and pushed her through the crowd.

Lucy looked up at him, "Thanks, I'd probably get stuck if I went in there by myself." And ignored the tingles that were shooting up her spine.

When they reached the table everyone, thankfully, was sitting down, so Reid wouldn't have to fish them out of the crowd. He pulled up a chair for Lucy, and introduced her.

"Hey guys, met the singer." Then, took a bite out of his hamburger. The group of people looked at Lucy for a minute, before Sarah decided to start making introductions.

"Sorry, Reid's rude and doesn't have any manners," Lucy laughed, "I'm Sarah, this is my boyfriend Caleb, Kate, her boyfriend Pogue, and Tyler. You were amazing, by the way." She said pointing to everyone.

"Pleasure, I'm Lucy Porter." Lucy said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Then Kate struck up a conversation similar to the one she had with Reid. Where she was from, why she was moving here, did she go to Spenser's...

"So you're staying with your uncle?" Caleb asked

"Yeah, real nice of him too, on such short notice." Lucy said nonchalantly.

"Who is your uncle?" Tyler asked "We probably know who he is, Ipswich being a small town and all."

Lucy sighed. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, 'cause my uncle thinks people badger me for free food and whatnot, but you lot seem alright so, what the hell." She shrugged, they all looked at her expectantly.

"I live here, Nicky's my Uncle." They all looked pretty shocked. "I know, I look nothin' like him. His twin sister was me mum."

"Was?" Pogue asked concerned.

"I don't really want to get into it now. It's a pretty long story." Lucy replied, she felt a little more like she fit in now. Not like at any of her other schools, it was weird, but she supposed sometimes you had to leave your life behind to figure out what's important.

A/N: The song was Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall, in case any of you were wondering.


	3. Devil Archerist

Lucy made her way up to her room after an eventful night. She made quick friends with Sarah and Kate and exchanged numbers. Lucy had a feeling she was going to call them up tomorrow, get help with the room makeover. It was still bare of any personal style she had. She had a feeling that Caleb and Pogue were a bit wary of her, not really sure why, but she didn't think they trusted her very much. Tyler she could tell, was interested in her, not in the romantic way, but in a way that some one would want to learn more about her. Reid, she knew that he was interested, but wasn't sure why. A conversation with Sarah and Kate made it a bit clearer though. Apparently, he was a bit of a playboy. So being interested in Lucy was an extremely different feeling for him.

She could remember her conversation with Nicky about them. He was a bit proud that she had already made friends, but told her to be careful around Reid. Lucy just hoped that he wasn't as bad as everyone said, because she had taken a liking to him. He was the boy who had given her friends, and seemed alright, when he wasn't flirting with him.

The next morning, she picked up her phone, and called up Sarah.

"Hello Sarah," She said cheerfully, "I hope I'm not waking you up, but I really need help putting some life in my room. It's so dull."

"No it's no problem, here, I'll put you on speaker, so Kate can here too." Sarah said just as cheerfully.

"Okay, well, I hate to ask this, but would you mind coming over and picking me up so we can go to an Ikea or something? I don't have a car yet, and I don't know how to get there, so you can see I'm in a bit of a pickle."

"Hey," Kate spoke up, "We'd love too, makeovers are like our thing, you know?"

"Thanks," Lucy laughed, "I'm a bit hopeless at all this, so I need professionals."

Nicky watched as his niece walked down the stairs into the bar. She was on the phone with someone, and he never realized how much of a social butterfly Lucy could be.

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit. Thanks. Bye." He heard her say, ending the conversation.

"Who was that?" Nicky asked pouring her some orange juice.

"Kate and Sarah, they're taking me to an Ikea so I can decorate my room a bit." She said, sitting comfortably on the bar stools. Lucy wasn't wearing any makeup today, but was wearing a white sun dress, a bright yellow cashmere cardigan, brown lace leggings, red, shiny ballet flats, and was carrying with her a blue leather hobo bag. Her wavy hair was down, but a few strands were pulled back over her scalp, and held there by clips.

"Okay, have fun, and be back by six tonight, I want you to perform again." Nicky said. Lucy grinned, knowing that she would be regular entertainment at Nicky's now, and hugged him. At that moment, Sarah and Kate walked through the door.

"Hey Lucy!" Sarah waved.

"Wow, it feels weird to be here in the morning." Kate said, looking around.

"I know right, after last night, it just doesn't feel right." Lucy giggled.

With that, they took off. It was a bit uncomfortable in the car so Lucy started up a conversation "I'm performing again tonight, Nicky wants me to be the regular entertainment!"

"Really? That's awesome,"Sarah exclaimed, "We have to go back tonight, Reid couldn't take his eyes off of you when you were last night."

"Um, okay..." Lucy said, not really knowing how to respond to that.

"What are you going to sing?" Kate asked, curious.

"I don't know... should it be upbeat, or slow?" Lucy asked.

"Upbeat, definitely." Sarah said, "Then, when you get more Ipswich fans, you can play anything you want and they'll like it."

Kate laughed, and said "You just like dancing to upbeat songs."

"True," Sarah shrugged, "But if Lucy played a slow song, I wouldn't mind it."

"Good to know." Lucy laughed.

When they had finished with her room, it looked completely different. While the walls were still white, her bed know had blood red sheets, and a black comforter. Her curtains were white, with black designs on them, and on her wall (the one that wasn't covered with posters or pictures), there was a collage of old vinyl albums, some Beatles, some Kinks, you get the idea, and on her floor was a Black rug with red and white flowers intertwining through the ropes of carpet.

Finally, they stood back, and admired their work.

"This looks pretty good." Sarah said, nodding her head.

"Good? Girl, we are miracle workers." Kate grinned.

"It's perfect." Lucy said in awe.

Then they went downstairs, and called up the boys, so they could keep Sarah and Kate company while Lucy did her sound check, and a few practice runs.

While she was sitting on the bar, tuning her guitar, Lucy heard the Sons of Ipswich walk in.

"Hello mates," She called out, "Glad you could make it."

"Well," Tyler said with a silly grin on his face, "We wouldn't miss a private performance from our favorite singer."

"Awe, thanks Ty."

"God, it feels weird being here without any people." Reid said, and they all laughed.

"Yeah, but you get used to it." Kate said, as she had been here since noon.

"So what are you waiting for?" Caleb asked, sitting next to Sarah and putting an arm over her shoulder.

"Yeah, go and do your thing." Pogue said eagerly.

She went up onto the stage, and for the first time in her life felt nervous about performing. As soon as the feeling came though, it was gone when she saw Reid wink at her.

She started strumming her favorite guitar, and let the words come out.

"_This day probably tore me apart_

_And I didnt even know it_

_This day probably ate up my heart_

_And I got nothing to show for it_

_Why, why is it so, so, so easy to compromise"_

She saw her friends, all sitting at a table, looking stunned for the most part. Then, she remembered what Sarah had said about Reid.

"_This fog is like strawberry pie_

_But it keeps you keep on reaching_

_Here I am just watching me die_

_Just watching death that's coming up_

_Coming up creeping_

_Why, why don't you start_

_Calling me ungrateful_

_Oh yeah"_

He was pretty handsome, she had to admit. She never usually fell for blonds, but there was something about him, behind the bad boy facade, that made her think he was no different from her.

"_Keep me away_

_I've got no will to fight_

_Keep me away_

_I'm running to the light_

_Cause I don't wanna lose your way_

_With these devil, devil archerist."_

He seemed a bit arrogant to her, like he thought he was better than everyone else in the world. Yet, he was nice to her, last night.

"_My soul here a million to one_

_Says I didn't even see it_

_Looking up looking down at my soul_

_Looking everywhere but don't know_

_Where the help is come, coming from_

_Why, why do I seem broken stumbling_

_Every time I can hear."_

Why was she even thinking about him? It's not like she was interested in him... or even attracted to him, was she? He confused her so much, it was like he was a walking contradiction.

"_Keep me away_

_I've got no will to fight_

_Keep me away_

_I'm running to the light_

_Cause I don't wanna lose your way_

_With these devil, devil archerist."_

He seemed to be a bit hypnotized... or something. The way he was staring at her, it was unnerving. Yet, she didn't really mind the attention. She basked in it actually. She wasn't sure why, but it scared her a bit.

"_Come on now_

_Keep me away_

_I've got no will to fight_

_Keep me away_

_I'm running to the light_

"_Keep me away_

_I've got no will to fight_

_Keep me away_

_I'm running to the light_

"_Cause I don't wanna lose your way_

_Ha, I don't wanna lose your way_

_No, I don't wanna lose your way_

"_With these devil, devil, devil archerist"_

When she finished, they all stood up and clapped. Lucy grinned, and stood, curtsying a few times, jokingly. Yet they all noticed, it was a very smooth curtsy, almost like she's had to do it before.

"That was amazing!" Kate squealed. Lucy blushed, and thanked her for the compliment.

"Very nice." Caleb commented. Then, they stayed there, and joked around for a bit before Nicky's started filling up, and it was time for Lucy to go back up and performe.


End file.
